The Assembly Commission, which runs the estate at Stormont, has drawn up new rules that mean events held in the Long Gallery now require "cross-community backing of three MLAs" (I'm guessing this means three from each community?).

This effectively means that Sinn Fein's murderer commemoration day at Stormont will not be allowed to go ahead in the Long Gallery. Sinn Fein are to hold the event in their members' room instead, though the commission has said TV cameras will not be allowed in.

Sinn Fein's Jennifer McCann, organising the event, said the decision was "unfair and undemocratic". What a laugh; the DUP, UUP, Alliance and SDLP all support the decision . That's 74% of voters represented there; I think you'll find that's quite democratic. It's a bit late now for the Sinners to turn round and demand an a la carte approach to the deals they helped devise and endorsed.

If the building at Stormont cannot be a shared space that reflects the history and culture of all the people in society then it must become a neutral space
Jennifer McCann, Sinn Fein MLA

This has nothing to do with history and much less to do with "culture". This is about having a bit of consideration. McCann can't be that much of an idiot (can she?). She knows she's fooling nobody and that everyone is perfectly aware this Farrell event was deliberately provocative. Now she has explained exactly why. I'm not the only one to notice that this whole debacle was nothing more than a smokescreen all along, with Sinn Fein's real aim being the removal of any historic artefacts they might decide to deem 'offensive' from Stormont a la Limavady.

I'm sure this has nothing to do with raising Ms McCann's profile, or giving something back to the basest, most bigoted elements of Sinn Fein's support (sure they've got Martina 'wrong kind of Catholic' Anderson for that), even if nothing appeals to a sectarian moron more than sticking one to the huns/taigs (delete as appropriate). Maybe it's just to distract from the fact that Sinn Fein, in common with the Assembly as a whole really, have achieved exactly diddly squat since the restoration of devolution last May.